May 14, 2014, 1:15 pm
Last edit by: rrgg
This thread is a continuation of the discussion posted here from 12.08.2012 - 5.13.2014: Barclays Arrival/Arrival Cards (1.05%/2.1% travel credits)
Current offer for Arrival Plus is 70K pts w/$5K spend & AF waived 1st year.
Barclays says that you earn “miles” but you’re actually earning cash back with the card since you can’t transfer your Barclays miles to airlines. But you can redeem them for statement credits at 0.5 cents per mile (poor value) or 1.05 cent per mile if you redeem for travel.
You get 5% of your miles back if you redeem for travel, so 40,000 miles gets you $400 towards travel and 2,000 miles back (5% of your miles back). You must have at least 10K 'miles' in your acct if you wish to redeem as a travel credit. 2500 'miles' can be redeemed for a stmt credit though.
If you want, you can redeem miles to cover a portion of a travel charge instead of the full amount. For example, if you have 80k miles and a $740 airline charge, you can choose to redeem just 70k to cover $700 of the charge.
You earn 2X miles on all purchases, so you’re effectively getting 2% cash back for each purchase. But since you get 5% of your miles back when you redeem for travel, this is effectively a 2.1% cash back card when miles are redeemed for travel.
This makes the Barclaycard Arrival PlusTM World Elite MasterCard® (with 2.1% cash back for travel) better than the Capital One Venture card which offers only 2 miles per $1 or 2% cash back, only if you spend $30k+ per year after first year, because Arrival Plus AF is $30 more than Venture.
If you receive a call from 302-255-8000 after applying for this or any other Barclay's card, it is a legit number! You can also call them back directly at 866-951-1437.
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Let's crowd source things that have counted towards travel redemptions that are not so obvious
="3"%Successful
Don't forget travel purchase needs to be > $100 charge for 10K mile redemption
Airlines that post purchases of multiple tickets as one amount or split them:
One Amount
BA (USD based award ticket)
Multiple Transactions
UA (award)
DL (award)
Current offer for Arrival Plus is 70K pts w/$5K spend & AF waived 1st year.
Barclays says that you earn “miles” but you’re actually earning cash back with the card since you can’t transfer your Barclays miles to airlines. But you can redeem them for statement credits at 0.5 cents per mile (poor value) or 1.05 cent per mile if you redeem for travel.
You get 5% of your miles back if you redeem for travel, so 40,000 miles gets you $400 towards travel and 2,000 miles back (5% of your miles back). You must have at least 10K 'miles' in your acct if you wish to redeem as a travel credit. 2500 'miles' can be redeemed for a stmt credit though.
If you want, you can redeem miles to cover a portion of a travel charge instead of the full amount. For example, if you have 80k miles and a $740 airline charge, you can choose to redeem just 70k to cover $700 of the charge.
You earn 2X miles on all purchases, so you’re effectively getting 2% cash back for each purchase. But since you get 5% of your miles back when you redeem for travel, this is effectively a 2.1% cash back card when miles are redeemed for travel.
This makes the Barclaycard Arrival PlusTM World Elite MasterCard® (with 2.1% cash back for travel) better than the Capital One Venture card which offers only 2 miles per $1 or 2% cash back, only if you spend $30k+ per year after first year, because Arrival Plus AF is $30 more than Venture.
If you receive a call from 302-255-8000 after applying for this or any other Barclay's card, it is a legit number! You can also call them back directly at 866-951-1437.
Very Old Wiki Info ---
Regarding official company representatives
Note that there is an official procedure for company representatives to register themselves with the FlyerTalk Community Director and verify their credentials. When that process is completed, the username will turn green in posts, rather than the standard blue.
Anyone who does not appear in green has not followed this procedure. Those posts should be considered the same as any other user's posts. It is important to remember that the moderation team does not generally monitor the veracity of any posts; it is up to you to judge a poster's content and history yourself.
Let's crowd source things that have counted towards travel redemptions that are not so obvious
="3"%Successful
Don't forget travel purchase needs to be > $100 charge for 10K mile redemption
- 9/11 Museum and Memorial - NYC
- Accuracy Limo (via Square, Salt Lake City, UT limo service)
- ACE Adventures (West Virginia White Water Rafting), had to call in to get it processed manually
- agoda.com
- AirAsia Flights (airasia.com)
- airbnb bookings
- airbnb GC purchased on United MPX site
- Alaska Airlines checked baggage fee $25 charge
- Amazing Bike Tours Thailand
- AA Gift Card
- American Airlines telephone booking (including booking fee)
- Amtrak train ticket >$25 (ALB-NYP)
- Amtrak train ticket >$25 (unknown destinations)
- Arrival+ Annual Fee
- Argosy Cruises (SEA, classified as RECREATION)
- Autoeurope.com
- BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) San Francisco
- Balloons over Bagan
- Bieber bus tickets
- Boston MBTA Charlie Card reload & Commuter Rail passes & tickets
- Burj Khalifa observation decks
- Buying Lifemiles from Avianca
- Capitaine Train Tickets (capitaine.com)
- Carmel Limo (NYC car service)
- carrentals.com
- cheaptickets.com hotel
- Chinese Visa Application Fees (had to call in. Credit showed up in account in 2 business days. See Post 912 and 921 for details)
- City Taxi (Tampa)
- CostcoTravel
- Cotai Waterjet (Hong Kong)
- CT Limo
- Daily Getaways purchase of HHonors points
- DB Bahn Trains Germany (bahn.de)
- Disneyland Hong Kong (Manual redemption required)
- DriveNow - all locations in EU/US
- Dublin Bus Tours Hop on, Hop off (Green)
- Eiffel Tower (manual redemption by phone allowed)
- Empire State Building tickets
- Enterprise rent-a-car, paid at the counter when returning the car (used Chase United Visa initially for primary coverage, but asked to pay with a different card when returning the car)
- Eurostar Train Tickets (eurostar.com)
- Europcar.com
- Expedia.com
- Hertz Rent-a-Car (booked on hertz.com)
- Hong Kong Airport Express Pass
- Hotel bookings through Rocketmiles (even refundable bookings or those tied to other promotions)
- Hotels.com
- Hotwire
- ItaliaRail (online booking agency for TrenItalia)
- LA Swamp Tours, Steamboat cruise, Haunted History Tours (New Orleans)
- Lahaina-Maui Ferry Tickets - booked online at www.go-lanai.com
- Las Vegas Show Booked through hotel
Las Vegas show tickets booked online (Mandalay Bay Box office) - Limo Charges - Two limo charges that I made in March PRIOR the the recent changes to what qualifies as "Travel" showed up as eligible travel charges. I guess with the changes to what's covered, and for how long, these got pulled back in.
- Lyft
- M-Life advance reservation deposit
- Montway Auto Transport (deposit)
- New York City MTA Subway Cards
- New York Waterways Ferry (between NJ and NYC)
- Ngong Ping 360 (Hong Kong)
- Norwegian Cruise Line purchase made from telephone order from vacationstogo.com
- Norwegian Cruise Line (deposits and payments)
- NS Hispeed Train Tickets (nshispeed.com)
- NYC Taxi
- Orbitz.com purchase
- ORCA card for Seattle area tolls (considered the very typical GOVERNMENT SERVICES NOT ELSEWHERE CLASSIFIED)
- Paris RATP Metro/VATP (buy 10-ticket pack for >$25 and save cost)
- PeruRail (Machu Picchu train)
- PMRF Beach Cottages (Kauai)
- Priceline
- Primetime Shuttle (Worked from LAX-SNA)
- rail europe on Travelocity
- rail JR Rail in Japan, load as tourist attraction, call in to get it credit (Post#938)
- Safari Helicopter Tour (Kauai)
- Sandals.com resort booking (unique vacations) was not redeemable last year. Is redeemable online now
- SEASTREAK LLC - NYC (Commuter Ferri)
- Singapore Cable Car
- Southwest $100 gift card
- Southwest Early Bird Check-in (billed separately from airfare charges)
- Spirit of NY Dinner Cruises - www.spiritcruises.com, which have cruises in several other cities as well.
- Starwood Vacation Ownership (SPG Timeshare) Westin Princeville Kauai (coded as Timeshare).
- St Pauls Cathedral (manual redemption by phone allowed)
- Super Shuttle (mixed, worked in SF when (billed SUPERSHUTTLE EXECUCARS), worked in Boston (SUPERSHUTTLE BOSTON), failed in LA (SUPERSHUTTLE), Worked in Cancun.
- Taxi in Zürich
- Top of the Rock tickets - NYC
- Trenitalia Online
- Trimet (Portland OR public transportation)
- Trip Advisor Rental
- TurboJET (Hong Kong)
- Uber
- Uber GC through MPX $100 (re-confirmed 11/1/2018, using Arrival Premier)
- United Baggage Fee
- Universal Studio Orlando tickets (had to call in)
- Viator (sightseeing/tours)
- Victoria Clipper (passenger ferry)
- Wedding at the Stratosphere's Chapel in the Clouds (billed as stratosphere)
- Windsor Castle (manual redemption by phone allowed)
- Wine purchases from different wine tasting rooms
- WMATA (Washington DC Metro) - [[COLOR="Red"]reconfirmed 10/5/15]
- Zipcar
="3"%Unsuccessful (please mention the amount redeemed - important as anything under$25$100 cannot be reimbursed)
Partial redemptions are possible - however you cannot redeem against that charge again. So if you have a $500 charge and you spend 40K points against it, you cannot redeem 10K points for the remaining $100 of that charge. - www.b-europe.com (SNCB rail)
- Amtrak (possibly due <$25 charge)
- Blue Water Rafting. Merchant category "Recreation Services -- Not elsewhere classified"
- Brazil airline GOL booked online codes as DIRECT MARKETING/DIRECT MARKETERS--NOT ELESWH ..
- Broadmoor Hotel Food and Beverage (Colorado Spring, CO)
- budgetair.co.uk (charged >$200)
- Car2go
- De Palm Tours, Aruba (classified as Recreation. Called Barclay twice.)
- Description: ZERVE *CA WHALES Merchant Category: THEATRICAL PRODUCERS (EXCEPT MOTION PICTURES), TICKET AGENCIES...Tickets to whale watching tour purchased over the phone.
- Evan Evans Sightseeing tours (UK based)- http://www.evanevanstours.co.uk
- Fastrak tag autoload for San Francisco bridge tolls ($25)
- Global Entry
- Gotobus.com Long Distance Buses, ~$100
- Homeaway.com, posts as real estate. Barclays said they'd make a one-time exception but future purchases won't count as travel.
- Hostelbookers.com deposit (maybe the charge which is >$25 will count?)
- Hotels.com Gift Card
- IHG points and cash hotel redemption
- Malaysian Overnight Train KUL-SIN (ktmb.com.my)
- Monterey Aquarium
- Parking at DCA - $136 (7/9/19)
- Parking at HSV ($96 in parking at Huntsville International Airport)
- Parking at IAH (Houston Intercontinental - on airport) -$76 (PARKING LOTS AND GARAGES)
- Parking at LAS
- Parking at LGA $204
- Parking at Port Imperial, Weehawken, NJ
- Parking at SNA (John Wayne Airport)
- San Francisco Clipper Card public transit (autoload from website)
- Skyjump at Stratosphere Hotel LV $150 (01/14) - not charged by hotel.
- Space Needle and Chihuly Garden Tickets
- Starwood points purchase (BUSINESS SERVICES NOT ELSEWHERE CLASSIFIED)
- Taxi Magic /Curb- Taxi service
- Thello train (France-Italy night train, codes as rail-freight)
- Trenitalia (both online and in stations, posts as rail-freight)
- UBER eGift Card (bought through the UBER app) for $100 - Not coded as "travel," so couldn't redeem online and they wouldn't do it over the phone, either.
Airlines that post purchases of multiple tickets as one amount or split them:
One Amount
BA (USD based award ticket)
Multiple Transactions
UA (award)
DL (award)
Barclays Arrival Plus, now 70K w/$5k spend
Oct 25, 2014, 3:28 pm
#1322
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: HNL
Programs: HHonors, Hyatt, Alaska, American, United
Posts: 128
Successful and Not Successful Redemptions
Successful - Quarterly Worldmark timeshare dues ($139)
Unsuccessful - Rover.com booking for my dog while I am on vacation ($255). I had sent them a message and received the following response (in part):
Upon review, we show that the charge that posted on October 23, 2014 for ROVER.COM is categorized as MISCELLANEOUS PERSONAL SERVICES; thus, ineligible for redemption. Merchants choose their merchant category code, Barclays does not control the category that classifies a merchant. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Would it do me any good to call and talk to a rep? Obviously, this is travel-related, because why else would I be paying all that money to board my dog?
Unsuccessful - Rover.com booking for my dog while I am on vacation ($255). I had sent them a message and received the following response (in part):
Upon review, we show that the charge that posted on October 23, 2014 for ROVER.COM is categorized as MISCELLANEOUS PERSONAL SERVICES; thus, ineligible for redemption. Merchants choose their merchant category code, Barclays does not control the category that classifies a merchant. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Would it do me any good to call and talk to a rep? Obviously, this is travel-related, because why else would I be paying all that money to board my dog?
Oct 25, 2014, 5:48 pm
#1323
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Michigan
Programs: AA, UA, DL, UR, IHG platnium, AirAsia
Posts: 323
Contiki Tours deposit (tour company for 18-35 year olds) shows as a travel purchase on my Plus card, a $200 purchase. Was a bit concerned about that, as even the phone rep didn't know when I asked if this would be coded as a travel purchase. He just said it would post as "Contiki Tours".
Oct 26, 2014, 9:21 am
#1324
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 84
Successful - Quarterly Worldmark timeshare dues ($139)
Unsuccessful - Rover.com booking for my dog while I am on vacation ($255). I had sent them a message and received the following response (in part):
Upon review, we show that the charge that posted on October 23, 2014 for ROVER.COM is categorized as MISCELLANEOUS PERSONAL SERVICES; thus, ineligible for redemption. Merchants choose their merchant category code, Barclays does not control the category that classifies a merchant. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Would it do me any good to call and talk to a rep? Obviously, this is travel-related, because why else would I be paying all that money to board my dog?
Unsuccessful - Rover.com booking for my dog while I am on vacation ($255). I had sent them a message and received the following response (in part):
Upon review, we show that the charge that posted on October 23, 2014 for ROVER.COM is categorized as MISCELLANEOUS PERSONAL SERVICES; thus, ineligible for redemption. Merchants choose their merchant category code, Barclays does not control the category that classifies a merchant. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Would it do me any good to call and talk to a rep? Obviously, this is travel-related, because why else would I be paying all that money to board my dog?
Oct 26, 2014, 10:03 am
#1325
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: SEA
Programs: Bonvoy Gold
Posts: 1,942
One of the successful entries in the wiki shows as "had to call in to get it processed manually" so anything is possible. I didn't have any luck calling in to get EZPass toll charges processed as a travel purchase though which were coded as "GOVERNMENT SERVICES NOT ELSEWHERE CLASSIFIED".
Oct 26, 2014, 10:15 am
#1326
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,740
Successful - Quarterly Worldmark timeshare dues ($139)
Unsuccessful - Rover.com booking for my dog while I am on vacation ($255). I had sent them a message and received the following response (in part):
Upon review, we show that the charge that posted on October 23, 2014 for ROVER.COM is categorized as MISCELLANEOUS PERSONAL SERVICES; thus, ineligible for redemption. Merchants choose their merchant category code, Barclays does not control the category that classifies a merchant. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Would it do me any good to call and talk to a rep? Obviously, this is travel-related, because why else would I be paying all that money to board my dog?
Unsuccessful - Rover.com booking for my dog while I am on vacation ($255). I had sent them a message and received the following response (in part):
Upon review, we show that the charge that posted on October 23, 2014 for ROVER.COM is categorized as MISCELLANEOUS PERSONAL SERVICES; thus, ineligible for redemption. Merchants choose their merchant category code, Barclays does not control the category that classifies a merchant. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Would it do me any good to call and talk to a rep? Obviously, this is travel-related, because why else would I be paying all that money to board my dog?
My $420+ Chinese Tourist Visa fee was shot down by regular rep who claimed it was just like passports, personal service. On 2nd call the regular rep immediately transferred me without me asking. The reward dept rep listened to my plea - if not traveling to China, why would I need to get a Chinese tourist visa? and said he would submit a request for manual review. Credit processed in 2 days without any notification but showed up on account.
Good Luck.
Oct 26, 2014, 5:19 pm
#1327
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: DFW
Programs: AA 1M
Posts: 31,474
Does anyone know how expertflyer.com posts?
Oct 27, 2014, 1:33 pm
#1328
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: HNL
Programs: HHonors, Hyatt, Alaska, American, United
Posts: 128
Call and ask to transfer to Reward Dept and then try your luck.
My $420+ Chinese Tourist Visa fee was shot down by regular rep who claimed it was just like passports, personal service. On 2nd call the regular rep immediately transferred me without me asking. The reward dept rep listened to my plea - if not traveling to China, why would I need to get a Chinese tourist visa? and said he would submit a request for manual review. Credit processed in 2 days without any notification but showed up on account.
Good Luck.
My $420+ Chinese Tourist Visa fee was shot down by regular rep who claimed it was just like passports, personal service. On 2nd call the regular rep immediately transferred me without me asking. The reward dept rep listened to my plea - if not traveling to China, why would I need to get a Chinese tourist visa? and said he would submit a request for manual review. Credit processed in 2 days without any notification but showed up on account.
Good Luck.
Incidentally, there doesn't seem to be a separate rewards dept. The first rep said she handled the rewards requests.
Oct 27, 2014, 6:49 pm
#1329
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,740
I just called twice. First rep shot it down--she said the service wasn't necessarily for travel; e.g., I could be going to a hospital and would need someone to care for my dog. The second rep was kind of clueless and said reward options don't post for about a week after the charges are incurred.
Incidentally, there doesn't seem to be a separate rewards dept. The first rep said she handled the rewards requests.
Incidentally, there doesn't seem to be a separate rewards dept. The first rep said she handled the rewards requests.
I did not ask but the 2nd rep transferred me immediately when I started asking about the manual redemption before I had a chance to even finish my plea.
Oct 27, 2014, 6:55 pm
#1330
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Michigan
Programs: AA, UA, DL, UR, IHG platnium, AirAsia
Posts: 323
Is anyone not receiving their "miles" from the Barclays Travel Community lately? My account has updated once in the past week and I'm still missing tens of thousands of "miles" since around October 21-22nd. That site is so dang full of glitches it's so annoying. This is like the 4th time my miles have been severely delayed since joining about 6 weeks ago. You'd think a Bank would know how to manage a website like this. Not sure I'd ever open an account with them and trust them with actual money. 
Oct 27, 2014, 8:58 pm
#1331
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 4,166
Is anyone not receiving their "miles" from the Barclays Travel Community lately? My account has updated once in the past week and I'm still missing tens of thousands of "miles" since around October 21-22nd. That site is so dang full of glitches it's so annoying. This is like the 4th time my miles have been severely delayed since joining about 6 weeks ago. You'd think a Bank would know how to manage a website like this. Not sure I'd ever open an account with them and trust them with actual money.
Oct 28, 2014, 10:17 am
#1332
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 14
Can you get the bonus again on the Arrival+? I got it last year and cancelled it this year.
Oct 28, 2014, 3:48 pm
#1333
Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 432
Yes, someone on FT has gotten three Arrivals and 40,000 miles each time. I forgot who but remember reading. Also one of the bloggers recently posted about getting a second card and 40k.
Oct 28, 2014, 9:34 pm
#1334
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: IAH
Programs: DL DM, Hyatt Ist-iest, Stariott Platinum, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 12,784
Is anyone not receiving their "miles" from the Barclays Travel Community lately? My account has updated once in the past week and I'm still missing tens of thousands of "miles" since around October 21-22nd. That site is so dang full of glitches it's so annoying. This is like the 4th time my miles have been severely delayed since joining about 6 weeks ago. You'd think a Bank would know how to manage a website like this. Not sure I'd ever open an account with them and trust them with actual money.
Oct 29, 2014, 11:15 am
#1335
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 825
How does barclay look upon using more than your CL each month by paying it off?